iCamp is a research and development project funded by the European Union under the IST (Information Society Technology) programme of FP6.

The main objective of iCamp is to create an open virtual learning environment for university students across Europe by connecting different open source learning systems and tools and provide interoperability amongst them. This new learning environment is a learner centred space where students and educators will work collaboratively on assignments across disciplines and across countries with a special focus on the integration of students and universities from the NMS and the AC. iCamp will offer students and educators both innovative and easy-to-use tools for collaboration and interaction as well as access to a broad variety of resources.

The objectives in iCamp are driven by pedagogical, technical and social challenges and can be summarised as:

Investigate, develop and validate innovative pedagogical models for social instruction that support learners in achieving their learning goals in a self-directed manner and to establish social networks

Provide a validated portfolio of constructivist learning tools that support these innovative learning models

Provide an open virtual learning environment consisting of a network of learning tools, platforms and repositories

Develop and describe an open source code for connecting to the iCamp network and to provide interoperability amongst different systems

Document and describe best practices from the validation for universities that might benefit in the future from it

Among the 10 European partners, six leading Institutions are from the New Member States or Candidate Countries of the European Union, which emphasizes the special focus on NMS and AC.